Sharpen your brain, sharpen your portfolio: 5 books for the investing reader

Summer: the time to let the portfolio rest and invest in the most important capital: your own knowledge. Because while stocks go up and down, you can build up some more strategic advantage with a good book. Whether you're sitting in a beach chair or your own garden, this selection will not only feed your open-minded mind, but also a little bit of the Charlie Munger in you.

1 - Your Life is Manufactured - Tim Minshall

We analyse balance sheets and profit margins, but how well do we understand the physical reality behind our investments? This book is an eye opener. Professor Tim Minshall takes you to global factory floors and unravels the complex chains behind everything we own, from a smartphone to jeans. What is the similarity between a blacksmith and a kitchen? What do sugar and paper production have in common? Who the hell is building a factory to produce 1 product and then demolish the factory again?

For an investor, this book is worth gold. It forces you to look beyond the quarterly results and understand the real physical risks in your portfolio: from supply chain disruptions to the impact of geopolitics on production costs. After reading, you will look at the industrial companies in which you invest with a completely different, sharper view.

2 - The New China Playbook — Keyu Jin

“Investing in China” is a catch-all term that no longer covers the load. Econome Keyu Jin breaks with the clichés of the “Chinese dragon” and provides a surgically precise analysis of the internal engines that drive the economy today: a unique mix of tech ambition, a new generation of consumers, demographic challenges and tight political control. Anyone who invests in emerging markets — or in Western companies that rely heavily on China — cannot ignore this book. Jin gives you the tools to understand the macroeconomic trends that will determine prices in the coming years.

The long-term, data-driven plans are in stark contrast to the gut feeling of the day approach of other world leaders. ‍

3 - Except — Robert Sapolsky

Perhaps the most important book an investor can read, even if it's not about money at first glance. Why do we sell at the bottom in a panic and buy full of FOMO at the top? Neurologist Robert Sapolsky reveals the biological and psychological roots of our (irrational) behavior. He shows why we, as humans, are so poorly wired to deal with the uncertainty of the stock market.

Starting from the chemical processes in the brain, things systematically become more complex and complex until we come to cultural and historical explanations for our behavior. A masterpiece by a Nobel Prize winner.

Understanding these deep-rooted mechanisms is the best way to protect against the most expensive investment mistakes (and other mistakes). This book is the ultimate behavioral finance course.

4 - 100 Baggers — Chris Mayer

This isn't a dry theory, but a real treasure hunt. Chris Mayer is looking for the holy grail of investing: stocks that go 100 times. It is a practical and inspiring handbook for the ambitious stock picker.

Mayer analyses the anatomy of the most successful stocks ever and distills a checklist to identify tomorrow's winners for yourself. A book that not only makes you wiser, but also makes you dream again about the potential of stock picking. ‍

5 - The Contrarian — Max Chafkin

To understand where Silicon Valley and part of today's capital markets are headed, you need to understand Peter Thiel's way of thinking. Co-founder of PayPal, first third-party investor in Facebook, and a political powerhouse. Unlike the other Paypal founder, Elon Musk, Thiel prefers to stay in the background;

This book is not a hymn, but a critical analysis of the man whose investments and radical ideas are shaping the tech industry.

It offers a crucial insight into an influential movement that connects capital, technology and politics in a way we barely know in Europe. Essential to understand the power dynamics behind the tech giants, and the course that the US will follow in the coming years.

From our own bookshelf

Summer is also perfect for looking for depth. A fascinating dive into the history of monetary depreciation can be found in Golden Ground by notary Luc Ghesquière, who uses the price of agricultural land over the centuries to show how purchasing power evaporates.

And for those who want to concretely fill in the investor adage “do your homework”, there is Beyond the Noise by our own in-house analyst Jens Verbrugge. The book offers insights and analysis tools that you often miss in the financial press, and is a light-hearted guide that teaches how to analyse companies yourself, and how to distinguish between market noise and the things that really matter.

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In short, whether you want to understand the psychology behind market mania, find the next growth engine, or better assess the geopolitical risks in your portfolio: with these books, your time in the sun becomes an investment that is guaranteed to pay off in the long term. After all, a sharp mind is the best starting point for a healthy portfolio. Have a nice summer of reading